At around 11 a.m. Sunday, Andy Brown stood just outside the yellow police tape and stared down the street.
Her only child was lying on the floor with a white sheet covering her body. Dozens of orange evidence cones dotted the nearby street.
“There’s my son,” Brown said.
Camden Brown, 27, was one of three victims killed in a shooting near 57th and Prospect Avenue. Five other victims of the shooting were taken to different hospitals by ambulance or private vehicle and are believed to have non-life-threatening injuries.
Just after 4:30 a.m., the Kansas City Police Department responded to a parking lot near the intersection.
A heavy police presence remained at the scene from 11 a.m. Relatives gathered near the intersection of 57th and Wabash. Some cried, hugged or prayed.
Andy Brown said it was disrespectful that his son’s body had not yet been moved or at least protected from the sun. Earlier, Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves said the scene was large and was still being processed.
Andy Brown said witnesses told him a party was going on after hours when someone was asked to leave. The person came back with a gun.
Camden Brown and his girlfriend were running when he was caught in the crossfire and shot in the back.
“He didn’t deserve this,” Andy Brown said.
He said he doesn’t think much can be done about gun violence. Some people think having a gun makes them a big shot, he said, but that’s not the case. Andy Brown added that he thinks the after-hours space should be closed.
“People do stupid shit,” he said.
Ongoing gun violence
The murders come about a month after a shooting at the Klymax Lounge, 4242 Indiana Ave., just 2.5 miles away, that killed three people and injured two.
By some definitions, both incidents could be considered mass shootings.
According to Gun Violence Archive, an incident in which at least four people are injured or killed in addition to the shooter can be considered a mass shooting. Other organizations, such as Everytown for Gun Safety, claim that if at least four people other than the shooter are shot and killed, the incident is a mass shooting.
Graves said officials spoke with community members near the scene of the violence in the city and what could be done to reduce the shooting.
“People start at such a point that if there’s a disagreement or argument or anger, some people in Kansas City are just too quick to pick up guns,” she said.
Graves said it’s frustrating that the city is involved in so much effort to reduce violent crime, but the homicide rate continues to rise. She said some witnesses were uncooperative and also said these investigations were difficult for police department officers.
They see family members crying and “we absorb that,” Graves said.
In May, Graves announced the Violent Crime Reduction Initiative, a partnership between police, county prosecutors, crime-fighting groups, federal authorities and city agencies. Since Graves hosted a press conference announcing the citywide initiative on May 17, there have been 36 homicides in Kansas City.
Mayor Quinton Lucas previously told the Star that the new initiative focused on crime prevention, intervention, law enforcement and police reform.
“So we’re going to keep trying, and I know people get frustrated sometimes and say, ‘It always feels like there’s a new plan,'” Lucas said. “Of course, as long as there are murderers on our streets, we will always have new plans and initiatives to try to solve the problems.”
Some community activists expressed skepticism about the plan and feared it was another violence prevention program launched with lots of promise that will eventually lose momentum.
“I consider it lip service for now,” said Steve Young, who directs the Kansas City Law Enforcement Accountability Project, or KC LEAP.
Anyone in the area at the time who heard or saw anything is asked to contact Homicide Detectives at 816-234-5043 or the TIPS Anonymous Hotline at 816-474- 8477. A reward of up to $25,000 is available for information submitted to TIPS that leads to an arrest.
The Star’s Glenn Rice contributed to this report.